Mavericks Advance To CHL Semifinals With Convincing 5-1 Win Over Rapid City

The Missouri Mavericks advanced to the Central Hockey League (CHL) Semifinals with a convincing 5-1 win over the Rapid City Rush in Game 6 of their opening round series Wednesday night.  Missouri won four straight games and beat Rapid City 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.  Mavericks’ forwards Kellan Tochkin and Sebastien Thinel each had two goals in the win.  Kenton Miller had a goal and two assists for the Mavericks and goaltender Mathieu Corbeil stopped 24 of 25 shots for his second win of the series.

Missouri will take on the Allen Americans in the CHL Semifinals starting on Sun., April 14 in Allen.  The Mavericks will return home for Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) on April 17, 19 and 20.  Tickets for all three games will go on sale this Fri., April 12 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.

“I thought we had incredible focus defensively,” said Mavericks’ Head Coach Scott Hillman.  “We took care of our zone first and had a great night offensively with Thinel, Tochkin and Miller leading the way.  Also an outstanding performance by Mathieu Corbeil in net.”

The Mavericks took advantage of their chances in the first period and skated to a two-goal lead through the opening 20 minutes.  First, Tochkin got behind the defense along the left wing and beat Rush goaltender Tim Boron over the glove.  He was assisted by Miller and the marker extended Tochkin’s goal-scoring streak to four games.  Just over two minutes later, Mavericks’ leading scorer Sebastien Thinel scored his first goal of the series on a nice pass from Ryan Jardine.  Mavericks’ forward Colt King also assisted on the play and Missouri took the two-goal lead into the first intermission.

Rapid City cut the Mavericks lead to 2-1 just over five minutes into the second period when Scott Wray connected on the power play.  He was assisted by Kyle Peto and Dan Gendur, and the goal was just their second on the power play in the series for the Rush.

Missouri quickly bounced back and regained their two-goal lead at the 11:02 mark of the second period on Thinel’s second goal of the game.  His shot from a sharp angle beat Boron on assists from Tochkin and Jardine.  At the 16:56 mark after extended pressure in the Rapid City zone, the Mavericks made it 4-1 on Tochkin’s second goal of the game and fifth of the series.  His goal of a rebound sent Boron to the bench in favor of Rapid City goaltender Danny Battochio marking the second time in the series the Mavericks forced Rapid City to change goaltenders.  Through two periods, the Mavericks had a 4-1 lead and a 24-16 edge in shots.

The Mavericks defense tightened in the third period and Missouri responded to the Rapid City pressure with a goal by Miller.  He beat Battochio on a wrist shot from the slot and ended Rapid City’s chances for a comeback.  Miller’s goal came at the 7:30 mark of the final period and the Mavericks defense shut down the Rush for the remainder of regulation.